Allen Park — Detroit Lions offensive lineman Max Pircher hasn’t achieved the personal success he’s yet hoped, but from a team standpoint, the team’s International Pathways Program (IPP) signee and native of Bressanone, Italy has had some fortunate bounces early in his NFL career.
Pircher played for the Super Bowl LVI-winning Los Angeles Rams during his rookie NFL season, less than five years after playing his first snap of organized football.
He now finds himself using what he learned to prove himself in one of the NFL’s best offensive-line rooms.
“Winning the Super Bowl in my rookie season was obviously a great feeling, because you see what the team goes through. You see the highs and the lows. You see what it looks like,” Pircher said. “Being in the playoffs, how do you best prepare for that? You really learn a lot. It was really cool to be part of it.”
Pircher was allocated to the Lions via the IPP after the player Detroit was originally allocated, Patrick Murtaugh, was forced to leave the team because of a medical issue. Pircher originally started playing football in Austria in 2017 for the Swarco Raiders. Pircher played for the Italian National Team in 2019 and was invited to join the IPP while playing for the Hildesheim Invaders in Germany.
Though Pircher benefited from the two years in Los Angeles, the Lions recognize that he is by no means a finished product. Prior to 2019, he’d never played the game — he was more of a handball and soccer player — and two years as an NFL practice-squad player is still a short amount of time when you’re starting from scratch.
“He’s been good. You know, it’s not natural to him all the way yet,” Lions offensive line coach Hank Fraley said. “It’s been a couple years in it with the Rams and everything else, but he’s learning a lot.
“We’re pushing him, we’re giving him some reps in here, and it’s been fun around all the guys, too, and just learning from them and knowing where he is coming from, I’m excited to see what he’s able to do. And for us, O-line play is gonna be when the pads really come in and we see how you play when it’s real action.”
While the strength of Detroit’s O-line provides some steep competition, it also is providing Pircher with a terrific environment to develop, he said.
“I feel like there’s a lot I can learn. That’s why I’m really happy to be here, and the best (part) is, we have great coaches, especially in our O-line room,” Pircher said. “I was really impressed how they break down the stuff for us, they teach me this stuff from zero, so it’s really good for me to be here.”
Fraley said there’s something to be gleaned from everybody on the roster.
“We have all different stages of expertise in there and development. You got somebody like (left tackle Taylor) Decker, year eight. Penei (Sewell), going on year three, to the rookies that (Pircher came in with that we brought in now,” Fraley said. “You got all stages and you’re a teacher, so you gotta figure out how you’re gonna teach all these guys and what he gets to see.
“He gets to see somebody do it at a very high level and he’s getting to see guys that are learning the culture about Detroit. So, he’s been all ears and learning from everybody, and he asks a lot of questions … he can visually learn and mentally learn.”
As of late May, when Pircher was signed, there were 13 IPP players on NFL rosters and four on active rosters, most notably Philadelphia Eagles defensive tackle Jordan Mailata (Australia).
Teams with an IPP player are given an additional spot on the practice squad (if that player does not make the 53-man roster) to encourage the development of international players.
nbianchi@detroitnews.com
Twitter: @nolanbianchi